Natural gas and water could bring peace: Yorgancıoğlu

Natural gas and water could bring peace: Yorgancıoğlu

Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Özkan Yorgancıoğlu said using natural gas finds in Cyprus’ EEZ and water from Turkey could be the key to peace not only for Cyprus but also in the Middle East, Turkish daily ‘Milliyet’ reports.

Speaking to the newspaper, Yorgancıoğlu said, “The water coming from Turkey can be distributed to the whole of the island, natural gas found in south Cyprus can be marketed to Europe through north Cyprus and Turkey”.

With reference to the casino business in Cyprus, he said that he felt uncomfortable about the existence of casinos and nightclubs in the North.

“In the modern world societies cannot prosper by being enemies,’ he said, adding that, “A step forward by the Greek Cypriots towards finding a solution for the Cyprus problem will also create a means of forming a bridge with Turkey.” Yorgancıoğlu also referred to the idea of creating a partnership between both sides in the casino business.

“The subject of casinos are the Greek Cypriots’ political preference. This is a step taken in order to prevent the Greek Cypriots from visiting the casinos in north Cyprus. In fact we are the ones who should take the casinos under control. When the day comes why shouldn’t we have a partnership regarding casinos? I feel discomfort about the presence of the casinos and nightclubs. As to this, we are predicting a planned transformation.

How possible is it to change past attitudes which still affect the present day? I think that the nightclubs are negatively affecting the image of our country,” he concluded.